NASCAR hands Carl Long and crew chief record penalties

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) - NASCAR has suspended driver Carl Long for the next 12 Sprint Cup races and fined crew chief Charles Swing $200,000, the largest penalty in the sport's history.

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I know rules are rules, but this is heartless.

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Permalink Reply by Jaci on May 22, 2009 at 10:05pm

Pending penalty has Carl Long concerned about NASCAR future
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Thursday, May 21,

CONCORD, N.C. – Carl Long is worried about his NASCAR career – his career as a fabricator and crewman in addition to his career as a driver.

Long said Thursday he can’t afford the $200,000 fine that NASCAR levied on his crew chief Wednesday.

The biggest fine in NASCAR history was levied because Long’s engine last week had a displacement of 358.17 cubic inches – 0.17 cubic inches more than NASCAR allows.

Long was at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Thursday because he has filed an intent to appeal the penalty, which included a 12-week suspension to him, his wife DeeDee (the team owner), and his crew chief as well as the fine to the crew chief and 200 points as well.

In addition to being the owner/driver of Carl Long Racing, Long works for Front Row Motorsports. If the penalty is upheld, Long said he wouldn’t be allowed inside the garage until the fine is paid. His crew chief can’t afford it, so it would fall on Long and his wife to pay the fine.

“I could never pay it,” Long said. “It won’t ever happen. I’ll cease to have a NASCAR license. … Before I can walk through that [garage] gate and do any kind of work, I have to be straight with NASCAR. … I struggle to pay my house bills every week and every time I get a little extra, get a sponsor, we go race.”

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby said that it doesn’t matter whether the team is a small one or a big one when it comes to such a fine. In 1991, NASCAR parked Junior Johnson’s team for four weeks for an oversized engine.

“You have to separate the personalities from the rules and regulations,” Darby said. “Same scenario, same engine in Tony Stewart’s car last Saturday night, for example, you would have never, ever convinced Matt Kenseth that is why he lost the race.

“Unfortunately, even if there was some emotion attached to it, when it comes down to the black-and-white of enforcing the rule book and writing the penalties accordingly, you have to remove the [emotion].”

Long’s team has attempted two points races this year, with Long failing to qualify for the Daytona 500 and Dennis Setzer attempting to make the race at Martinsville before rain washed out qualifying.

“I just hope the people in the hearing – common sense has got to take place,” Long said. “I’m just waiting for the hearing.”

Long last competed in a Sprint Cup race in 2006.

“All my life and everything I’ve done has all been to race,” Long said. “I really wanted to set NASCAR records. Not this one.”

Long wouldn’t say who built his Dodge motor but he obviously didn’t know that it was illegal. The engine blew in practice Friday and since he changed engines, NASCAR took the blown engine for review. Long noted that if he knew it was illegal, he would have just packed up and headed home.

He said the engine’s horsepower was 25 less than other similar engines.

Darby said there is no leniency in the rule – the minimum is 350.000 cubic inches, and the maximum is 358.000.

“[There’s a] reason that number is carried out to three decimal points in the rule book,” Darby said.

http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/Pending_pen...

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Permalink Reply by TOG on May 22, 2009 at 10:16pm

maybe there will be a " Rally for Carl " like there was that time after he flipped his car at The Rock.

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Permalink Reply by GrayAntiMatter on May 24, 2009 at 7:13pm

“You have to separate the personalities from the rules and regulations,” Darby said. “Same scenario, same engine in Tony Stewart’s car last Saturday night, for example, you would have never, ever convinced Matt Kenseth that is why he lost the race.

If only Darby hadn't admitted in an interview with Athlon Sports in the 2007 season preview that NASCAR absolutely applies rules differently to different teams....He's a jackass...

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Permalink Reply by Turtle7 on May 24, 2009 at 12:19pm

I wonder when the last time NASCAR had their gauges certified by a competent Metrology lab. In Aerospace, all gauges need to be recertified after specific periods of time whether they are used in that period or not. I love the smell of another lawsuit against NASCAR!